


Childhood Simplicity

by TheOnlyHuman



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Crazy shit guys, Everyone lives, Fix-it fic, Its shit, Reginald Hargreeves A+ parenting, Sort Of, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, actually, ben hargreeves lives, seriously though, they're in the past, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-08 08:52:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17978198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOnlyHuman/pseuds/TheOnlyHuman
Summary: A time travel fix it fic that I'm pretty sure happens in canon (dont sue me i haven't seen past ep8 yet).Or: The Hargreeves Family takes another shot at it and this time, they just about manage to avoid the apocalypse. Alls well.





	1. Family Stand By One Another

 

"So we... are kids." Luther says hesitantly.

"Basically," Five starts, looking entirely relaxed despite the grass stains all over his uniform as he stands, brushing himself off. "To cut a very long story short, yes. We're children again."

"Like, we're in the past 'we're kids again' or we're just kids again 'kids again'?" Allison asks, trying to make head of tails of their _situation._

Five rolls his eleven year old eyes. He looks remarkably at ease despite how they ended up in the city park, at what seems to be around midnight. Diego nearly wonders how he does it before realising he does the same thing; it's all pretend. On the inside, Five is probably shitting himself like Diego is.

Because how could he be not?

They're eleven again, they have to deal with dear old dad's 'training ( _torture_ ) exercises' again, have to deal with Ben's——

Ben's alive. Diego tunes into Five's snarked response as he blinks at their once-ghost now alive brother. "Of course it's the past, where else would I take us? Definitely not the _future._ "

Ben looks shocked, staring out at his outstretched hands and making them into fists as if he can't quite believe he's real and alive and  _here._

Diego feels oddly happy that he's not started crying yet or something. He's never been good with the innocent, almost naive emotions Ben held. Never was good at consolidation in the first place. (Eudora was good at it though.)

"What do we do?" Surprisingly, it's Klaus that asks the question. He looks dead serious despite how he has a twig sticking out of his mop he calls hair. "With Vanya out cold we can't risk her waking up and having a killer meltdown."

"Again," Allison sighs.

Diego wonders if Eudora's born yet. Then realises she's probably still in Spain, living the life with her mama and papa, smiling in happy, glorious Spain. He's almost jealous for a moment before he squashes the emotion down.

"Well, the plan is rather simple—"

Five is cut off by Luther's harsh snort. "Because it is _always_ 'simple' with you, Five."

"Indeed it is, One." Five jabs back and Diego realises they're all still numbers, Mom hasn't given them their names yet, won't until they're twelve.

Diego wonders if they change things, would their names change?

"You were saying," he speaks for what feels like the first time in years, his throat scratchy and hoarse. He feels drained after arguing with Luther, with what felt like everyone. If only they'd let her join in, not left Vanya out so much, things could've been _different._

Diego's gonna kill that son'ova'bitch Harold Jenkins.

That is, if one of the others doesn't do the deed first.

Diego pulls himself out of his thoughts as Five smirks at him, looking smug. "Thank you, Two. As I was saying, the plan is simple in that, over the prolonged period of time, we shall make small changes that will inevitably change the outcome of the future."

"But what about your old bosses?" Ben asks, and god is _that_ a voice Diego hasn't heard in _years._

Five frowns and seems to hesitate before saying, "While they are dangerous and complusive, they will not approach us just yet. For two reasons; one, we are in this time, where they were busy and two, it takes them a while to catch onto things like this."

"What do you mean 'they were busy' in 'this time'?" Klaus asks, making air quotations where he deems fit.

Five shakes his head, "When I pulled us back here, not only did I pull us back, but I pulled the earth back."

"What?" Allsion asks and Diego hasn't resonated more with a question like this ever.

"How is it so hard to understand? I pulled everything back, in this time I have never been to the future, I have never worked for them and hopefully, they will never catch onto our scheme."

Diego doesn't bother dismissing the scheme as Five's and Five's alone because even he knows just how much is at stake for this. He knows they _have_ to work together or _else._ "Worst case scenario if they do?" He asks instead.

Five grimaces, "They'll eliminate us from the timeline." He claps and the gloom is gone, he turns on his heel and starts walking down the old bricked path Diego knows will lead them out onto a street near the Academy. "Let us get to where we need to be, now."

"What about Vanya?" Ben murmurs, as soft spoken as ever.

"Ah," Five pauses in his gait then motions for them to keep up as he sets off again. "As tomorrow is our Twelfth birthdays Mother will be letting us sleep in an hour longer so I assume it would be safe enough to stay in her room together. To help her when she wakes, of course."

Diego blinks. "Hold up, what?"

 

 

-/-/-

 

 

"I can't believe we'll be twelve tomorrow," Allison cooes quietly, weary of the sound-travelling, all-hearing walls, as they sit round Vanya's boring plain bedroom, waiting for her to wake up.

Luther is standing by her plain dresser, carefully admiring how his body is back to its normal muscular self.

Five seems distracted as he sits by Vanya's side, patiently dabbing a damp washtowel on the unconscious girl's forehead attempting to bring down the fever that had spiked in the last hour.

Klaus is sitting practically inside the girl's closet, face half buried in a grey skirt as he and Ben listen to the idle conversation, close beside each other yet separate from the main group at large.

Ben, as stated, is sitting silently beside Klaus, though he is occasionally sending his hands weary glances. Almost as if he expects this to all be a dream and that he'll wake up and find he's still... _dead._ Diego isn't too sure how the life of a dead man goes but he's pretty sure (or semi-sure) he's not dead yet and can confirm this is real.

Everyone pretends not to notice when Allison, the main source of conversation currently, quietens down and rubs her throat. She pulls her hand away cautiously each time Diego's seen her do it, like she expects it to be covered in her wet, sticky blood once more.

Diego himself feels like shit. His hands hurt from twirling and flipping his knives and he's sure they're red by now but that doesn't stop him. His nervous stutter will be back again, he'll have to use Mom's advice but does him knowing this time around— will that affect their relationship? Will that moment still happen or will it be replaced with something else, less meaningful?

He's nervous and being nervous has never been good for Diego. Nerves make his hands sweat and his breathing quicken. They make his concentration dwindle, make him stutter and worst of all; they make a fool out of him. When he's nervous and is told to aim, he will but it will be slower, the throw less accurate, the power behind the shot weaker. Sometimes his curves are even less, ending up with him sticking a knife in the floor instead of the ceiling.

It's so embarassing.

Not only does Diego worry about his nerves, he worries about Eudora. Sweet, lovely, kind Eudora who was dead back in the past-future-whatever, dead back in _his time_ , because of him. Beautiful, magnificent, amazing Eudora who stood by him when he fucked up in the Police Academy, had been his partner in crime for all but poltical policing views. The woman he loved and still did but had left that love alone when she'd kicked him out, dumped him and told him to go to hell.

The woman he'd killed -sent to her death- because he took _too long_.

( _He hunched over her body, her cold lifeless body, and felt like crying for the first time in a very long time. Her blood was cooling, her pulse was nonexistent, her smile was invisible. The hole in her chest was not, no it was clear as day and as the police sirens apporached Diego apologised and swore he'd get revenge.)_

He wondered if she'd like him this time round.

Probably not. This tike she'd probably know better than to associate with some somebody who didn't want to be a somebody, but instead a nobody. Yeah, this time round she'd find a nice guy, have kids with him, have a nice, peaceful family and she would never have to worry about her boyfriend jumping off rooftops trying to stop muggings but instead slipping on the wet tile and falling sixteen feet and landing smack dab on his hand.

Eudora doesn't need him (but he needs her) and he can live with that (he doesn't think he can, though).

Vanya, on the other hand, is probably the most peaceful of them all. Except for the fever (thankfully not anywhere _near_ life-threatening) that had crept up on her in the last hour or so, she's peacefully knocked out.

All in all, the family is as good as ever. It's silent, calm and this is -Diego admits- probably the longest he'd been a room with all of them that wasn't solely because of training or dinner or breakfast.

Or, that is to say, it's calm until Vanya jolts up in her bed, looking like she's ran a marathon.

 

 

-/-/-

 

 

"Wha—" Vanya hears herself speak and instantly hates her voice. It's out of place, too young, too naive and it makes her feel sick just like the way the heavy, swamping covers make her feel sick because its honey lemon drizzel detergent and that's the one Mom used to use and——

Her siblings stare at her as if she's a boxed— no, a caged bird and it makes her want to scream. Scream at them and ask them if they realise how much they ruined her life, made her feel like nothing because she was _normal._

The word makes her angry alone. Normal. She hates the word and its meaning. Hates everything about it from the way it fits into her old broken body like a violin into its case.

"Calm down, Vanya." A soft voice is saying. She recognises this voice, knows it, likes it because it's Five's and Five was the only one to ever talk and listen to her before he vanished. "You're safe, we're safe. I got us—"

Someone clears their throat and Five rephrases, "We got out. We're in 2000, we're eleven and we're going to change the future."

"How—?" She tries to ask but cuts off halway through when her voice turns so hoarse no sound passes through it. She's immediately grateful when a glass of cool water is pushed into her hands, even if it is _Allison_ who does it.

"I used my powers," Five says in his 'duh' tone but his smile is kind and soft. "We've got another chance and this time around you may master your powers and—"

"Hey," Ben interupted quietly. And wow, _Ben,_ it was _Ben._ He was _alive._ "Doesn't dad already know by now though?"

"There is ways around that," Five smirks and Vanya doesn't care who her siblings are. She's in this for Five.

"I'll help," she mutters and the smile Five rewards her with is worth every little hardship she's ever faced and is reminded of when she looks at her other siblings.

 

 

-/-/-

 

 

"Happy birthday children," Mother announces at the breakfast table, setting down a present methodically in front of each number. Five notes how Father doesn't seem too pleased at the proceedings but makes no move to intervene. "I hope you all like your presents."

It takes Five a moment before he realises how out of place the blue wrapped box with the tidy red bow before him looks.

"Open those things later," Father says sternly and on cue the others shove their boxes under their chairs, for later. Five hesitates in putting his away, taking a second longer before noticing Father's eyes on him and hastily shoving his onto the ground, under his chair as well. "Good," Father continues after too long a pause. He sits down with a flourish, "You may begin."

As Mother serves them their sausages, eggs, toast and bacon Five realises one thing.

He never made it to his twelfth birthday in the Academy. His other twelfth had been spent digging charred rats out of a hole in the ground, his stomach rumbling and contracting in on itself so bad it made his legs wobble as he scrapped at the meat with one of Delores' fingers.

Five felt ill.

He burned the present, knowing that there was a slip of paper within it saying his Mother's chosen name for him. But crucially, the honest truth was that he didn't want a name. He was 00.05 and that was it.

("Michael," Grace will say in the end, when she's shutting down for her last recharge. "I love you so much, my dear son."

And Five will cry because he knew Michael was the name Mother had picked just for him but it didn't make it any less painful.)

 

 

-/-/-

 

 

"The first change," Five says. "Is to show Father Vanya's abilities and that she can control them, by stopping a certain someone's death."

Luther remembers this day well enough, only it had been bleaker, with the vanishing of Five hanging over it and only making everything that bit worse. This was the training exersise where Ben would loose control and thus, his life.

He was pretty sure the only reason Five could talk about this so calmly was because he hadn't witnessed it.

Father had recently started training them for all types of conditions and this one would be underwater. A dummy was tied up in the fourteen foot deep end of their pool and one by one they were expected to retrieve it, with them going in the opposite order than usual.

Aka, Number Six to Number One. 

The first time -the original time- around, Ben had been forced in by Father, his nerves had gotten the better of him and when his concentration on trying to save the dummy had gotten in the way, he'd lost control. The horrors had gotten out and consumed him.

Everyone, including Father, had been shaken. Training had been postponed for a week while they grieved before they were thrust back into brutal one-on-ones and harsh tasks were strapped to their backs.

As it was, Ben stood at the tip of the diving board, took a deep, deep breath and jumped in.

The water was so dark that you couldn't see what was happening -to stimulate real situations, Father had shouted- so when Ben stopped moving and actively trying to save the dummy no one really knew until he'd been down there five minutes and there still had been no sign of life.

Father didn't move or shift, aside from frowing. "What is taking Number Six so long?"

"Perhaps he requires assistance, Father?" Vanya asked, the only one with enough guts and blatant favoritism to get away with such a suggestion.

"Don't be foolish, Number Seven." Father hissed squinting at the murky waters. Luther's heart rate picked up in panic, despite how he knew how this was meant to go anyway, as long purple tentacles shot out of the water.

Three of them shot straight towards Father whilst the five others shot off in completely random directions, managing to make it look incidental that Father would be struck.

The others were scrambling back against the walls and Luther followed, shouting orders everyone already knew for appearances sake. Two of the tentacles headed towards Father didn't make it, spreading out too far before they smacked off the cool tiled ground.

Luther watched, almost in slow motion as Father turned pale and took a fruitless step back as the last tentacle shot towards him, looming over him like a beacon. Just as the tentacle was about to hit, Vanya stepped in front of Father and snapped her fingers. The tentacle was instantly shredded into large circular chunks that had Father gaping.

Vanya did a good job of acting surprised.

Diego took it upon himself to dive into the pool and bring Ben back up to the surface. Last time, Ben hadn't made it past the cold waters of the pool, this time, Ben had.

Luther smiled. He counted that as a mission success.


	2. What Isn't Meant To Be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow guys, posted chappie one last night and I've already gotten over a hundred kudos.... I'm shook, sisters.
> 
> Thank you all so much for the kind comments and support! (It makes me feel a lot better about my writing xD)

 

Turns out, Dad was not expecting anything like this to happen. At any point.

So they were, in his words and his words alone, "confined to your rooms until explicit orders to leave." Which was fine for Ben because the water had made him shaky and he didn't really like the idea of standing about waiting for the others to finish up.

On the plus side, Father hadn't said they had to all be in their own rooms. So, that was why they were camping out in Diego's den as he took a shower (Vanya had dried Ben but not Diego which Two had huffed good-naturedly at).

"Could this have a negative effect on the timeline?" Vanya asked curiously. "If Father were to decide something along the lines of Allison's abilities again?"

"No offense," Klaus hummed. "But an old dog never uses the same trick twice."

"Is that the saying..?" Five seemed confused.

"No," Allison muttered, arms crossed so tightly they were rumpling her blazer. "It's not."

"Anyway," Klaus steered them all away from his superb usage of english. "I'm just saying that this time Dad'll do something different, whether or not he trains you or decides not to is up to his weird-ass brain."

"And if it doesn't work out the way we want it to in the end," Diego says, flooding the room with steam as he enters, shutting the adjacent bathroom door in the hallway behind him. At everyones glare he closes his bedroom door too. "We have our ways of persuasion."

All eyes fall to Allison who shakes her head with so much vehemice Ben fears it will fall off and roll away. He'd seen that happen once, the man had had to chase his head for _days._

"No," their sister says. "I can be a last resort but not unless we have other ways."

"Fair enough," Five shrugs, not pushing it. "Otherwise, as we have no active way of seeing how this turns out, I suggest we get a good night's sleep."

Carefully everyone tiptoes out, back to their own rooms. Ben pushes down the withering feeling that arches inside his skin.

 

 

-/-/-

 

 

Allison sits down on her bed and wishes, hopes, Claire will still be born.

It's been two years since Ben was meant to die but didn't, Klaus had been dragged off to train not two days ago -no doubt at the mausoleum- and Vanya had been added to their training exercise schedule, much to the girl's excitement.

_It's been too long,_ she thinks, wishing she had a picture of her baby girl. Her heart aches and shivers with the pain of longing, she wants to see her daughter so, _so_ badly but she can't. She can't because she's _not_ _born yet._

A knock on her door startles her so badly she nearly slides off the bed. Managing to pull herself back up, glaring at her smiling happy face on a pink poster, she calls a soft, "Come in."

The door creaks open and Luther pops his head in. "Hey," the boy smiles. He's wearing some band t-shirt and dark jeans, she finds when he walks in. He looks happier than Allison's ever seen him. "How's you?"

"I'm okay," she says, hoping her eyes don't shine too much to debunk her claims. Thank god she hadn't started crying. "What are you doing?"

"Well," Luther coughs with embarrasment. "I thought about going out to a club before I remembered we're only fourteen, so... Allison Hargreeves, would you like to come with me to the park?"

Allison musters up a smile, "I would love to, Luther Hargreeves."

 

 

-/-/-

 

 

Klaus sits in the mausoleum, watching as the young girl screams at him in a language he doesn't understand, listens as a man of impressive stature and bulk joins her after materializing at what has to be his daughter's howls.

There is no woman, no wife, and that possibly helps as Klaus knows he can sink into the corner between the two caskets and not have to worry about her appearing on him too. Two is more than enough to deal with at once, almost too much.

_This is what you did last time,_ a voice whispers in his ear. It sounds like Ben but it can't be because Ben is at home, home smiling and relaxing and—

"Grow up already,Klaus." It's the girl. Her voice has withered and gone scratchy with age although that does not stop her from floating in front of him, staring down at him with dull blue eyes.

"W-Who are you?" He asks, ignoring how his voice breaks into a squeak, signalling puberty's rebellion against him.

The girl giggles at him. "Someone unimportant," she whispers in english. I know who you are, Hargreeves."

"It's Kl—"

"Don't," she cuts him off. "Never tell us your name or bad things will come. We are not all so kind as to talk to you, Séance."'

"You know—?" He's almost afriad to ask.

"Of course, your Father would not have left you here otherwise." She shakes her head and hoists herself up onto her casket, swing her legs and back forth through his still slumped form. The ghost sends him a pointed look and he straightens his back, standing.

"Good," she says a moment later. This girl almost reminds Klaus of Father but he says nothing. "You mustn't ever show your fear to spirits, All See-er."'

"But—"

She cuts him off again and Klaus wonders if this girl was ever taught manners.

"No. Evil lurks where we do, Séance, you must be prepared to do what you can to stop it." She says, voice churning into something cruel that whispers around the mausoleum. Her father has vanished and Klaus wonders where he's went to. "You have these powers for a reason, yes?"

"Do you know how to—" He sounds like a broken record now but the girl doesn't seem to mind.

"Control them?" She laughs coldly. "Alas, I would not know. You, though, Séance, _you_ already know how to use them."

"So what if I do," because he could bring people back from the dead, he could speak to them, he could talk to little lady god, he _knew_ but he wanted to know more. He needed to know enough to help save his family, and maybe the world. "How would I discover the full extent of them?"

"There is only one way for that," she says and taps his head.

(He speaks with the man in the clouds who calls himself Beelzebub. He tells him he has the power to do anything should his imagination allow it, says he can do it and sends him back down to the world of the living, claiming the Underworld is no place for a being such as he.)

Klaus wakes up when Father opens the mausoleum door, keys hanging by his side pocket, latched securly to his belt. If his Father feels any surprise at him sitting upon the girl's casket, smiling, he does not show it.

Klaus can help now. He knows how to.

 

 

-/-/-

 

 

"Vanya," Diego pesters. "Please play something, anything, please!"

They're in the living room, relaxing and chatting, watching tv as Pogo walks in, his cane clacking off the finely polished floors. His momouth is downturned into a frown, his eyes serious. He seems sad.

"Young Masters and Misses," he announces, catching their attention instantly. "Your Father has summoned for you all."

They share a glance but obediently follow Pogo to their Father's study nevertheless. Five wonders what's about to happen, not versed too well on the happenings of when they were about to turn sixteen.

"Enter," Father says and they file into a single line, One from Seven, all straight faced. The lingering confusion and curiosity clearly says no-one else knows what's about to happen either.

"Father," Luther nods, it being One's job to greet their Father during meetings or as such. This time Father does not seem to appreicate the interruption and sends One a thinly veiled glare.

"Numbers One to Seven have been awarded a mission," Father says and the ideas are already running through Five's mind, of what they can do, what they will do. "It is in Northern Ireland, where a small town is dealing with some trouble courtesy of a mutant gang leader whom appears to be an American convict and fugitive."

Five would be lying if he wasn't confused. Northern Ireland is under the UK's jurisdiction, it is a place that the US of A has no rule in and he doubts they would be welcome there. (Or rather, with them being celebrities they would be but their masks -to play the hero over there? They would be shunned and booted out instantly, trying to mess with their justice.)

"Why do they need our help, Father?" Vanya asks, face carefully blank.

"They've requested it," Father says, seeming unsure as well, even if it is hidden by the glint of his monocole. "They do not want to get involced with American affairs. You will be heading off at sundown, dismissed."

_Well,_ Five thinks, _it would be foolish to ignore this opportunity._

If he's right, there's a spectacular poison maker in the far south.

 

 

-/-/-

 

 

"If we were to disappear here," he suggests later, when they're all bundled up in Luther's room. "To collect a certain something, it may help us."

"No," Luther says on instinct. "That would put fire upon Ireland, if we were to—"

"I think it is a good idea," Vanya says. "It would certainly change the tides of time, if you wish to collect what I think you do."

The Umbrella Academy go missing in Ireland. They go missing for three days until Pogo jets over and explicitly tells them their Father is angry and to return home immediately.

Five tells One the excuse (after successfully securing the poison) and they all stand in Father's office as they stick up for why they ventured off course.

"We had believed Oliver Fanguris had passed on information crucial to the mutant serum to an old associate of his down in the south. Therefore, we followed and eliminated said associate. We sent message but it may not have made it through."

Father sighed, eye twitching. "It was not recieved. Next time, make sure it goes through. Dismissed."

Things go just about as well as they can from there.

 

 

-/-/-

 

 

"Father is sending me to the moon," Luther says when they're all settled in Ben's room, fiddling with the boys puzzles and watching tv.

Allison just about chokes as dread fills her - _no, not Claire now Luther, no_ _please_ —"What?"

"You mustn't," Five says, shocked. "You are not set to until you are twenty, we're still eighteen!"

"He's sending me up in five days," Luther repeats morosely. "I tried arguing but he heard none of it. He wants me to analyse data and keep an eye out for enemies."

"Like there would be any aliens attacking us this time round," Diego scoffs. He blinks, "Right?"

"Right." Five nods, "It is highly unlikely, at least."

Vanya says something that Klaus laughs heartfully at but Allison can't hear anything over the buzz in her ears. Luther's going to the moon early, does that mean other things could happen early? What if—

"What if this means the Apocolaypse is coming earlier?" She asks and the room delves into a sickening silence.

"Possibly," Five says after five minutes of a gut churning, pregnant pause. "I— Well, with our side of the End out of the question there _could_ be another line to add to the equation."

"S- So we're saying we don't really know _when_ the fucking Apocolaypse is coming?" Diego splutters, nerves showing. "What the fuck? It could've happened any day now and you didn't tell us—!"

"That is where you are wrong," Vanya cuts in for defense of Five. "The End has obviously not happened yet as we are all still alive."

"Are we sure of that though?" Luther puts in and Allison doesn't like the way this is going. Luther seems angry and the frustration of his unfair orders has put him in a bad mood, only being quadrupled by the current argument. "What if Klaus has used his powers to keep us all alive while everyone else is dead?"

Everyone looks at Klaus. He scowls, tone dark and murderous. Ben fidgets at his side. "Of course I haven't! Why would I— I don't even think I could uphold something like that for so long, just how long do you think you've been dead, huh, Luther?"

"Long enough for his brain to rot," Diego cuts in, breaking off Luther's responce. He adresses their peeved Four, "Listen, Klaus, he's angry and not thinking straight. I say we all split here and we talk in the morning. Sound good?" Diego doesn't give anyone a chance to respond, already dragging everyone but Allison away with him. "Great."

The door shuts quietly behind them and Allison is left standing in the middle of the room. Luther drops onto his bed, his head in his hands. Her heart, already crumbled and broken, cracks a bit more.

"Luther," she soothes, settling down beside him and rubbing at his back. "Things aren't always fair but we always find a way over them."

"And?" Luther hiccups, voice strained. "So what? You think he couldn't die sooner, Dad? Yeah, no. That bastard is the one who did this— _he_ brought us together. _He_ should be the one to pay, not us!"

Something makes Allison's thoughts turn dark, venturing down the road of what-if's and maybe's. "What if we were to finish him off a bit sooner?" She whispers. Luther stills beside her. "The cameras are off, Father is the only one that would know."

"But how would we—?" Luther tries.

"A heart attack," she says. "He's always been stressed since we went mysteriously 'missing' in Northern Ireland. It wouldn't be a long shot."

"How—" He asks and Allison knows what he's saying.

She does something she'd promised herself to never do again. "I'll use my Rumors," and that settles it.

Reginald Hargreeves dies in 2007, twelve years too soon. It's written off as a natural death and no one questions.

Luther Hargreeves never went to the moon.


	3. Family Look Out For One Another

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vengeance, more birthdays and overall feels.

 

Five hides the poison under his bed because no-one looks there. He smothers it in with the dust bunnies and the old too small dress shirts and the dirty sneakers. It works well and for a while, even he forgets about it.

He'd originally gotten it to kill Father but with him dying twelve years too soon _au-natural_ he hadn't gotten the chance to use it.

He remembers about it one bleak fall day when its damp and wet. Five days before Harold Jenkins was set to kill his father.

Vanya bursts into his room, all tears and choked, messy sobs. He's standing beside her in an instant and not because of his powers, catching her as she crumples into him and dampens his pristine white shirt with horror-filled tears.

"What is it, V?" He tries to sooth but this has never been his thing. Forty plus years of isolation never do one any good. "What's happened?"

"I seen him," Vanya gasps, shivering in his arms as he pulls her over to slump in his desk chair. "He was walking with his father, he— _he seen me_."

She bursts into heavier, louder sobs but Five already knows who his sister has seen.

Leonard, or, dear old _Harold._

Five is pretty sure Diego had wanted a piece of the man too so he goes to him that night, when Vanya is sleeping restlessly in his bed, clutching to a teddy bear he'd given her years ago.

He puts the poison in a briefcase and makes a plan.

 

 

-/-/-

 

 

Diego wishes Harold had died at birth.

Don't get him wrong, he wasn't stupid. Or optimistic. Diego was merely angry and worried.

Worried for Vanya, who Five claimed had had a bit of a nervous breakdown in his arms earlier in the day (when he'd been off chatting up Eudora, because _yes_ she was in the PA now and they were friends and _thank fuck_.)

Angry at Jenkins. Jenkins who'd stolen their Father's journal the first time round (albeit from a dumpster, but still) and had manipulated Vanya and treated her like shit.

He was going to kill the bastard.

He was also kinda grateful Five had pulled him in on this, because damn was he going to enjoy watching that sick asshole choke on his own blood, minutes before his own father would be getting home.

Jenkins' house was nice. 'Nice' as in, it could've been better but it was clean and the only peeling wallpaper was in the bathroom. How Diego knew that was because he'd had to shatter the bathroom window (which was big enough to let an overly obese man in) and jump through it. And what if it being on the second floor made that fat man bit less plausible, he was sure the cops wouldn't care with sufficient evidence in other places.

Diego jiggled open the door and peered around the corner, spotting the stairs not six feet away. He didn't want to go there, no, not yet.

He had to wait for goddamn 'I have to get something first' Five.

And well, if that plan backfired and he hung about in the bathroom combing his hair and Harold walked in and they both promptly screamed, no one had to know.

Tying the kid up sure was a hassle though, even finding the string was hard enough and Diego knew from experience you tied the victim up well or you were dead. (Not that Jenkins Jr. could do anything to _him_ but better safe than sorry, as Vanya said everytime when she retuned her violin.)

Five sauntered in through the front door five seconds before ducktaped Jenkins Jr. woke up. He blinked at the boy who blinked at him and scowled at Diego.

"What did I say about waiting for me?" He said, briefcase prominent in his lanky hands. "Hmm, Two?"

Diego shrugged for the show of it, watching from the side of his eyes how Jenkins Jr's eyes zipped between them like lightning. "He found me in the bathroom and screamed like a bitch, what was I supposed to do?"

"Maybe not scare him half to death." Five sighed, facial expression saying he wasn't too amused but eyes _glowing_ with his mirth. He stalked over to the chair Jenkins was on and ripped the ducktape off.

Jenkins Jr. immediately started babbling, "Wow, you guys are like my heroes, I swear I'm your biggest fan, really! I was born on the same day as you guys, you think I could have powers? I tried going off to see you guys once but I had a really important exam on that day and I—"

Diego and Five shared a look. This kid was eighteen?

"Doesn't look eighteen," Diego whispered.

"I know." Five shrugged before clearing his throat and cutting off the guy. "Very good, well we just came to say hello and then goodbye."

Diego smothered his laugh because that was _so_ plausible.

Jenkins' eyes lit up anyway, not realising the farce for what it was. "Really, wow, thanks guys—"

Diego shoved the bottle into the kids open mouth, forcefully tipping his head back to allow the liquid to run down his throat. Jenkins choked but it went down anyway.

When Diego stepped back Jenkins Jr. blinked at them, offended. "What was that—?"

"Nothing much, really," Five took over. He grabbed an iron poker from the fire and threw it at the mirror. It broke into pieces and Jenkins Jr. gasped like his dick had been cut off. "Only a little bit of poison that, let me say, I'm glad I didn't give him the original, larger bottle."

"Heh," Diego _had_ thought it was bigger last time but that had been years ago when he'd last seen it. "Didn't think you'd waste it all on him anyway."

"Of course not," Five smirked, his lips curling up like a Cheshire Cat's grin. He leaned into Jenkins Jr's face. "You messed up, Harold and for that, you will pay the price."

"W-What did I do?" Jenkins wailed, his body shaking like a leaf either due to the poison or his own fear. Diego laughed unbidden.

"What have you not done?" He joked.

Five laughed his cold cruel laugh. A wet spot appeared and spread over Jenkins' trousers.

"Please," the boy turned to begging. "Please I ju— I just want to live and become—"

"Become what?" Diego sneered, grabbing a poker and growling threateningly. He was thankful both he and Five were wearing their suits which came with gloves. No fingerprints meant no match. "Become a sadistic motherfucking killer? A manipulative asshole that sends our sister to her death?"

"I— I never touched Allison," Jenkins sobs, confused. Five nudges Diego and he knows the neighbors will be growing concerned.

"Oh, not that one," Five says despite himself. "Our _other_ sister."

"Vanya—" Jenkins Jr says and chokes as his throat burns through. Saliva drips down his chin and his eyes dry out in his skull. His body convulses and shakes like its a bomb.

"You couldn't have gotten a quicker acting one?" Diego asked.

"It's old," Five shrugged.

"Anyhow," Five says a minute later after they both stand there, glancing about the place in silence. "We need to do _something_ here."

"Wanna take the tv and burn the rest?" Diego asks because Eudora was moaning about needing one for when she moved into her new flat.

Five smirked, knowing what he was doing. Probably. "Why not."

Jenkins Sr. returns home that day to no home at all. It's on the news and Five makes a point of turning it up when Vanya walks into the living room. She hugs him (and later Diego when he grumbles he was in on it too) and cries tears of joy.

It's worth it. Her happy, beaming smile is worth a thousand lives and so many more, Diego finds himself thinking later.

 

 

-/-/-

 

 

Vanya finds herself staring at the mountain of fluffy, syrupy goodness that is Mom's pancakes. She takes a moment to wonder why the table is piled sky-high with them as she takes her customary usual seat beside Diego.

She takes no heed to it as she sits patiently, smiling at Five when he appears and sits opposite her. It's amazing really, how they're all eighteen and still living here. Living in the Academy despite their Father's death and the shut down of their little superhero team.

It's endearing in a way she hasn't realised it is. _Loyalty is always beautiful, Vanya,_ Mom had said to her in the past-future. She'd sat down on her bed and picked up Vanya's violin which had been discarded as useless once she couldn't play Chopin. Mom's kind smile and encouraging eyes had pushed her on and she'd mastered it not one hour later.

Pogo enters the room as everyone settles down. His smile is kind. "Happy birthday, children."

"Yes," Mom twitters, twirling into the room to serve them juice. (Tea, coffee or orange juice is all she makes for then in that category.) "Happy birthday, my children!"

Vanya finds herself blinking at Five, who blinks back, just as confused. Diego mumbles something about not feeling so old and Luther rumbles a laugh to it.

They're nineteen. Only eleven years away from the Apocolaypse.

_Still,_ she thinks. _We still have eleven years._ Somehow, that makes her feel better.

Mom's pancakes taste like heaven.

 

 

-/-/-

 

 

Sometimes Klaus wonders if everything is real and just not some dream. Some dream that hey, they'd pulled Vanya out of the basement and at Five's insistence had went back in time because the timeline was set and the only way to change it was to change time itself.

Sometimes Klaus wonders if he should summon Dave but he looks at himself in the mirror or at Ben or one of his siblings and stops that thought. He's too young, although twice as experienced, he's still only nineteen. He wants to be the same when he sees Dave again.

But will he ever be the same? Will his family ever be the same.

No.

They won't.

Because they've came back, into the past and they've relived their lives but made them better. Dear old Dad is dead, Luther is still on gravity effected land and Ben walks and laughs and talks with them all and not _just_ Klaus _._

"Hey, Klaus," Diego calls, making him look up from his book. Now this is a definite sign of change, before Diego had been cold, closed off, grumpy as he played vigilante but now, now he interacts, he smiles, he laughs, he even gossips with Vanya. He's happier and he embraces his family. "You think you could come shopping with me?"

Klaus smiles, "Oho, who's this for, exactly?"

Diego rolls his eyes, "It's for Mom, it's her birthday in a few days and she stained her apron. Will you help me shop, or not?"

Klaus laughs, happy to be included. "Of course, bro! Anything for family."

"Anything for family," Diego echoes, a soft smile on his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Not spell or fact checked so forgive me if i got something wrong (pls do tell me thx). Thanks for reading...?


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